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Jim Long Takes the Stand, Part Six

November 2, 2010

The day after Long
escorted law enforcement into Mark Armstrong's office, Long filed a formal
request for whistleblower protection with State's Attorney Cynthia Feland.Long said he knew Blunt would be reinstated
the following Monday, and had to protect himself.Long had his attorney, Tom Tuntland, send a
packet to Burleigh
County State's
Attorney regarding wrongdoing at WSI in a letter to Attorney General
Stenehjem.He said there is more
information, but he was so stressed, he would document that at a later
time.A list of issues meant to
supplement the request for whistleblower protection with possible violations
was sent to Feland.Long said it was his
intent, on his attorney's advice, to give a copy to Mike Quinn.A copy was delivered to Quinn and a meeting
was scheduled.An article from
Northdecoder is in the complete record.

Long and his attorney
talked with Quinn.In the meantime, Long
said he was contacted by Tim Wahlin regarding an investigation into allegations
regarding Dave Spencer and Mark Armstrong's journal.

Wahlin scheduled a meeting
with Long.Long's attorney asked to be
present at all meetings.Wahlin insisted
on a particular meeting date despite the fact that Long's attorney had to be in
Fargo on that
day.Long did attend that meeting.Long said he was concerned about the Wahlin
interview because he felt Wahlin was hand selected by Halvorson to begin
proceedings against him.In the
performance audit report, Long said state auditors raised concern about
investigators being assigned to investigate direct supervisors.He said it was important to ensure
investigations were free of conflict of interest.Long said he questioned who had assigned the
investigator to investigate Blunt and Halvorson.Halvorson?That concerned him.

Long said regarding the
letter to the Attorney General Stenehjem sent by Wahlin, it was Long's impression
that Wahlin was investigating Long for whistleblowing, not his
allegations.

Long said he sat down with
Wahlin and gave Wahlin ideas of how to confirm what data had been taken off
Spencer's computer.He said it is
impossible to get rid of MATA data on a computer and suggested the computer be
quaranteened and examined by someone outside of WSI, like a crime lab.Long said Wahlin had no special knowledge how
to retrieve computer data.

Wahlin's report was
eventually issued regarding Long's whistleblower complaint; it was sent to
Halvorson and Blunt.Tuntland asked
"So Wahlin was sending the report to the suspects?""You put it that way, I guess so, yeah"
Long replied.

The findings of the
report:there was no tangible evidence
that computer data containing sensitive information was forwarded by Blunt or
Halvorson.There was no report of any
investigation as to whether computer data was removed.Long said Wahlin merely called Spencer to ask
if he had stolen the information.Interviews with organization employees said that Spencer had access to
sensitive, protected employer information.

Tuntland asked Long
questions to establish his expertise in the workings of computers and whether
it is possible to determine if and when information is downloaded from the
computer.Long replied it was simple
physics, that any magnetic head could be scraped and that optical discs which
were used as well at WSI also could be accessed.Long testified that WSI computer expert
Schenfisch had the expertise but did not have the equipment to determine when
data had been transferred.Long further
said there were ways for WSI to have checked the optical disc which is WSI's
back up.It easily could have been
checked."It would not have been
cheap, but neither is fraud."

Tuntland next brought up
allegations of an improper relationship between Long and HR director Billie
Peltz.Long said the allegations were
investigated."They had to look into
it."Long thinks Rob Forward
conducted the investigation.Long said
both he and Billie were interviewed.Long said he had a meeting with Halvorson.Forward was there and they asked whether
anything inappropriate had happened.Long replied, no.Halvorson said
perception is important, especially with the lighthearted nature Billie
has.Long said both he and Billie were
told to be careful about how others were perceiving their work place
relationship and that Halvorson said he would monitor the situation and if
there were any evidence of inappropriate relationship, he would have to step in
and may have to remove HR from under Long's control.

Between that time and the
time he was suspended, Halvorson never spoke about an inappropriate
relationship again and Long's supervision of Billie Peltz did not end.Long said until he received a letter from
Halvorson as to why he was suspended, he had no reason to believe this was an
issue.

Tuntland next brought up
something called the ITTP project.A man
named Doug Hintz was lobbying to be part of ITTP executive team.Justin Data did not want Hintz on the team as
he said he thought adding another person would be outside of standard operating
procedure and could cost millions.He
gave an analogy of a canoe going to Paris; if
you add one more person, it would veer off course and could end up in Africa.Long sent
emails to higher ups urging Hintz not be placed on the executive team.

Long said that Halvorson
decided Hintz would be on the team.He
followed Halvorson's directions, but he did inform the board members about the
issue.This had a direct impact on the
ITT project as team member Foggland left the team and the organization.

Tuntland brought the
examination back to Mark Armstrong's journal.Long testified he had given the journal to Mike Quinn and that document
became available online in various locations.

Tuntland established that
Long filed for whistleblower protection right before Blunt was reinstated as
WSI's CEO.He asked whether anyone else
from WSI had filed for whistleblower protection at the same time.Long replied that Billie Peltz, Kay
Grinsteinner, and Todd Flanagan all filed for protection.

Long said WSI General
Counsel Bjornson had sent a letter to the AG regarding whistleblower
protection.Tuntland said this was not
actually a request for whistleblower protection?Long replied, he wasn't a lawyer, he couldn't
say, it seemed she was looking for help too.

Blunt was reinstated
October 22, 2007 by board action.Long
said he worked that full day, went home at 8:00 p.m., and received an email
from Tim Wahlin that he had been suspended.He further said the suspension email had been sent to his rasmussen.edu
address and he thought it horrible that one employer would send that to another
employer where they could look at it and see that he was being suspended.

Long said he tried to find
cause for the suspension in the email.Effective immediately, WSI decided his "continued effectiveness has
been compromised to the point that we must step back and regroup."

Tuntland asked whether on
that last day of work had Blunt or Wahlin talked with him about being
suspended.Long replied they had not and
said no reason existed to suspend him.

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About Me

Sue Wilson tells important stories which move politicians to act. She is the Emmy winning director of the media reform documentary "Broadcast Blues" and editor of SueWilsonReports.com.
Broadcast Blues sets its sights on media policy, and www.SueWilsonReports.com turns a critical eye on the media itself.
She recently formed an activist site, http://www.MediaActionCenter.net